Reds' Bryan Price singles out Nick Travieso

"We get the reports, so we're looking at our players, but when you get to see these young guys perform, it leaves more of an impression than group of statistics. He's been great," Price said of Travieso. "He's a physical guy who's throwing at the bottom of the strike zone, which is very important to see guys that don't just have arm strength but bottom-of-the-strike-zone command. He's has a very, very good slider. He's a yes-sir, no-sir guy. The rest of the organization is excited about him too. It gave me even more excitement to see him personally."

"I think I started off trying to do a little too much," Travieso said. "I didn't have my best stuff today so I tried to compensate by throwing it harder. Tucker Barnhart behind the plate kind of calmed me down and told me to get in line with my front shoulder. After that, everything was pretty smooth."

Travieso, who was named the team's minor-league pitcher of the year in 2014, went 14-5 with a 3.04 ERA and 114:44 K:BB ratio in 142 1/3 innings with Class A Dayton last season.

Adding changeup to repertoire paying off for Nick Travieso

by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com

(4/24/14) Reds starting pitcher prospect Nick Travieso is off to a promising start for Class A Dayton. He is 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA and .234 opponents' batting average in three starts.

The right-handed hurler also has 12 strikeouts in 17 innings. He's given up three runs on 15 hits and two walks.

Travieso credits his early season success to adding a changeup to his repertoire of pitches, per MLB.com.

"I'd say it's the missing piece for my development," he said. "I've always been a fastball-slider guy. The fastball is hard. The slider is hard. The slider drops off one side, the changeup goes the other way. Now that I've developed a changeup a little bit, it's been a little bit easier for me.

"Having a third pitch is always huge, especially when you're facing a good-hitting team. If they're hitting the fastball, I can go to the changeup. You run into a lot of fastball-hitting teams. When you throw the changeup off the fastball, it's pretty big."